Australia has been edging closer to Davis Cup glory over the past few years - with 21 years passing since their last triumph in the event.
The green and gold has lost the previous two Davis Cup finals - to Canada in 2022 and Italy in 2023.
Revenge will be there for the taking in this year's Davis Cup semi-final against Italy in Malaga on Saturday night (AEDT).
But unfortunately waiting for the Aussies is world no.1 Jannik Sinner, who has only lost six times in 76 matches across 2024.
MORE: Australia defeat historic rivals USA in Davis Cup upset
The Italian two-time major winner has only lost three matches on hard court in 2024, two against Carlos Alcaraz and one versus Andrey Rublev.
Sinner has won his last two tournaments - Shanghai Masters and the ATP Finals - and has an 8-0 record against Australia no.1 Alex de Minaur.
One of those wins against De Minaur came less than two weeks ago at the ATP Finals - a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory.
Alexei Popyrin has a 1-0 record over Sinner but the win came in 2021 when the Italian was a teenager, while Jordan Thompson has never played against the world's best current player.
WATCH: See all the Davis Cup finals action LIVE on beIN Sports
But it isn't completely bleak for Lleyton Hewitt's team with the other Italian singles player to be more vulnerable than Sinner.
Either Lorenzo Musetti or Matteo Berrettini will compete in the second singles match and follow the lead of their grand-slam winning leader.
Musetti was humbled surprisingly by Argentine clay specialist Francisco Cerundolo in the Davis Cup quarter-final, while Berrettini has tailed off significantly toward the end of the season.
This will leave Australia with an opportunity to square the ledger if Sinner gets the Italians off to a great start as expected.
Finally, while Australia possess doubles specialists Matthew Edben and Thompson, so do Italy in Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli.
However, the Italians chose to use Sinner and Berrettini in the deciding match in the Argentina quarter-final.
The winner of the Australia vs. Italy semi-final will go into the Davis Cup final as hot favourite to win.
The Dutch feature modest pairing Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp, and while both are good players, there could be more difficult combinations to overcome.
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